My broad interest in local history elicits a variety of responses from readers. Take Philip Collura of Bedminster who read with interest my reflections on a communications tower built in the 1950s atop Buckingham Mountain to survive a nuclear attack on Philadelphia ( “Getting to the bottom of the mystery of Hilltop Silo”, March 1 ).
“Just read your column with interest about the tower,” Phil began. “Good chance I'm your only reader where mentions of Jackie Jones, Wyndmoor and Martinsville (all tower locations) bring back fond memories. My first job at AT&T was communications technician from 1966 - 1971, maintaining the TV networks as they transversed the country. At 17 years old, I was awestruck to have such a responsibility. Committing a POE (Plant Operating Error) could mean cutting off NBC for the entire country -- and that did happen.
“The major TV networks in those days followed what was called the Round Robin. Jackie Jones tower heading north and west from N.Y. to Chicago, then south and east through D.C., then back north through Martinsville. Round Robin allowed the major stations to insert commercials and news feeds back to N.Y. master control.
“We used what was called an ‘order wire box’. Seconds counted in the TV and radio world, and this was our unit to call various offices. Each button sent a discrete tone, with each city having a unique receiver. It was 1950's technology, used until the mid-90's. Cities had a two-letter code like SS for Syracuse. I salvaged the order wire box as a memento. I can't help but picture someone in the future sifting through my belongings, trying to figure out what this thing is.”
Old Sellersville property prompts new perspective on pollution
My column on Holiday House and how it became a refuge for distressed families fleeing pollution in Philadelphia drew this response from Mike Wright of Hilltown: “Interesting article (“ Holiday House in Sellersville was a haven ”, April 19) . We think of pollution as a more modern problem. I certainly don’t think of air pollution with an 1890 perspective.”
Holiday House is a public recreation center operated by Sellersville and West Rockhill Township. It was founded in 1895 by the Episcopal Church in Philadelphia as a getaway for impoverished families in the inner city. The church built a manor house with 35 rooms to lodge women and children for rotating 2-week vacations away from city heat and pollution. The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia describes 19 th century conditions in the city this way: “In this era of the ‘walking city,’ before streetcars or subways, industrial workers lived literally in the shadow of the factories. For most, home meant a two-story row house (or a rented room in a row house) on a street lined corner-to-corner with identical homes. The sounds and smells of the factories permeated these neighborhoods. Smokestacks sent pollution into the air, and smoke-belching locomotives shared the streets with horse-drawn vehicles and pedestrians.”
With declining ability to support Holiday House and its 16-acre retreat, the church sold it in the mid-1960s to West Rockhill which converted the property into a recreation center with an Olympic-sized pool managed by the township and adjacent Sellersville. The manor house was boarded up and eventually torn down. The center has retained the name Holiday House.
Ye olde beer fest at Pennsbury Manor
Here’s an event Pennsylvania founder William Penn would have enjoyed: Food, live music, beer, wine, cider, mead and spirits tastings on Saturday at Penn’s reconstructed Pennsbury Manor home in Falls Township. The 10 th annual Brews & Bites fundraiser runs from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the estate overlooking the Delaware River. You must be at least 21 years old to attend.
Seventeen regional breweries and wineries will participate in addition to brewers dressed in period attire demonstrating beer brewing techniques practiced at the manor when Penn lived there in 1699. Proceeds will support programming and tours for more than 10,000 school children annually.
Tickets are $40 for unlimited drink sampling; $20 tickets with unlimited water and soft drinks for designated drivers. More information: https://www.pennsburymanor.org/
Sources include “Industrial Neighborhoods” by Charlene Mires and Jacob Downs in the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia on line at https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/industrial-neighborhoods/
Carl LaVO can be reached at carllavo0@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Mysterious tower on a mountain and Holiday House stir Bucks County readers' memories
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